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Teen prodigy finds home at Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute

After a month at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Jacob Barnett is thrilled. The young genius, diagnosed with autism at age two, is happy to have found a place where he can do what he loves, reports Greg Mercer at The Record.

Jacob Barnett, 15, is a student at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. (Mathew McCarthy / The Record)

By Greg MercerThe Record

Sun., Sept. 22, 2013

WATERLOO—To most of us, it’s just a glass of water. But to 15-year-old Jacob Barnett, it’s something else entirely: a clock.

“Based on the sun reflecting through the water, you can tell what time it is, by looking at the length of the light,” he said.

Jacob sees the world in a unique way. He’s absorbed in the invisible, mathematical language that explains how nature works, whether it’s the patterns of the universe or just the reflection in a glass at breakfast.

His extraordinary mind earned him a coveted spot at Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, where he’s spending the next year studying physics in a master’s program that selects from the best students in the world.

By now, his story is already well-known. A child prodigy with an IQ of 170 — higher than Albert Einstein’s estimated IQ — he was diagnosed with autism at age two and didn’t speak for a year and a half until he asked a question at a lecture on astronomy.

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By age eight, he was sitting in on university math lectures in Indiana. He completed his state’s entire high school math curriculum in two weeks.

By nine, he was writing his own physics theories, an exercise that had him covering his home’s windows in complex formulas. His mother, Kristine Barnett, detailed all this in her book The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing Genius. Warner Bros. snapped up the rights for the movie.

Clearly, Jacob is a very, very bright young man. He reads physics papers for fun. In his spare time, he creates computer programs and ideas for startup companies. He breezily explains the complex math behind everyday phenomena, and says he works out physics problems subconsciously.

His brain works on warp drive so often he had to train himself to shut it off and get some sleep. As a boy, he was home schooled and encouraged to pursue his passion for science, wherever that led him.

“Sometimes at home he’ll burst into a lecture on quantum information and we’ll just nod our heads and smile,” Kristine said. “Most of the time I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

But he’s also still a teenager. He chats with his Californian girlfriend through Skype, likes football and surfing, and is excited to try snowshoeing during his first Canadian winter.

“I’ve always found it very difficult to think that I’m different than other people. I’ve always assumed my circumstance was typical, but evidence is proposing that it’s not,” he said.

He smiles easily in interviews, is quietly charming and speaks concisely. Get him on the subject of physics, and you get the impression Jacob could spend all day talking about it.

“Mathematics is really the study of structure and symmetry. Physics is really the study of the structure of nature. And I’ve always been very curious about nature,” he said. “Physics isn’t frightening. There’s a lot of people who are frightened by mathematics in general. But math isn’t scary, it’s just structure.”

With about a month under his belt at Perimeter, he’s loving it. Jacob says he feels at home at the Waterloo institute — surrounded by people as excited as he is to talk about quantum gravity and quantum mechanics.

“It’s been fantastic. There’s nothing like it,” he said. “We’re doing physics, so I’m very happy.”

His classmates may be in their early 20s, but he says his age isn’t a factor here. The only difference is he can’t drive and isn’t legally allowed to join them for a drink.

He plans to spend the next year immersed in a broad, intense study of physics in the Perimeter Scholars International program, which he hopes will help him decide the area of focus for his PhD. After that, he’ll begin research under the supervision of a faculty member at the University of Waterloo.

The Barnett family uprooted from Fort Wayne, Ind., and moved to Waterloo Region this summer to allow Jacob to pursue his thirst for physics. They considered universities around the world, and settled on the institute created by BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis that was built to explore the very frontiers of physics.

“This place felt the most like home,” said his mother. “We knew at some time we’d have to leave Indiana because Jacob had exhausted the entire curriculum for math and physics.”

The family rented a farmhouse in the New Hamburg area, where they’ve got space to roam, complete with a horse, sheep and chickens that produce fresh eggs for breakfast every morning.

“It’s been more or less an adventure. We get to see so many different things and do so many different things,” Jacob said.

Kristine admits it was a big change to move the entire family, including dad Michael and younger brothers Wesley and Ethan, to another country.

But Jacob needs them here, she said. He’s too young to drive himself to Perimeter every day, and can’t stay in the University of Waterloo dormitory with his classmates.

“It’s a little unusual having a 15-year-old in charge,” Kristine said. “But we’ll do what we need to make sure he gets to do what he wants in his life. We want to support him.”

Because he applied to Perimeter without a university degree — Jacob cut out the humanities courses and other “junk” required to get an undergraduate degree in Indiana — he had to prove he could handle the demands of the scholars program.

Perimeter had him watch some of the institute’s online lectures and tested his understanding with a series of assignments. He excelled.

“I’m here now, so I must have done OK. It was fun,” Jacob said.

John Berlinski, the academic director who oversees the Perimeter Scholars International program, admitted he had reservations when he first heard about a 15-year-old who was applying for admittance.

“I was initially skeptical,” he said, laughing.

Jacob quickly showed a mastery of the advanced math and physics concepts needed to excel in the program, and those doubts vanished. Berlinski now thinks Perimeter is exactly the kind of place where a teenager like Jacob should be.

“It’s a perfect fit for him. In fact, I’ve never seen such a perfect fit,” he said. “He’s a very bright young man, there’s no question about it. He picks things up very quickly. And he knows how to handle himself in an academic setting.”

His mother knows other parents are taking inspiration from Jacob’s story of overcoming an early diagnosis of autism and turning into something of a young celebrity genius.

“There’s potential in everyone. I’m not saying everyone will be a rocket scientist or a quantum physicist,” she said. “But just knowing that that potential exists, especially when you’re facing an overwhelming illness like autism, it’s incredibly valuable.”

Jacob, meanwhile, is just happy he found a place where he can do what he loves.

“It’s great that I’m inspiring people,” he said. “People often underestimate people with autism. But as long as you figure out what they’re capable of, they can do great things.”

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